I love getting on Twitter in the evenings while on a date with my foam roller (I am a multitasker at heart). Last night I was catching up and rolling out my muscles when I came across this totally awesome conversation between two of the most amazing female American runners: Lauren Fleshman and Molly Pritz. Both of these ladies just rocked their first ever marathons at ING NYC not quite two weeks ago (Lauren crossed the finish line in 2:37:23 and Molly was the first American woman crossing the finish line in 2:31:52 – #incredible). The conversation started with Lauren tweeting that it took her just 9 days to miss running after the marathon – a “record low” for her. Then Molly piped in and all of a sudden I was a fly on the wall of a conversation between two athletes I sincerely admire:
This is one of the many many reasons why I love Twitter. First of all, I find it insanely cool and comforting to know that these incredible athletes are indeed totally human. That sounds dumb, I know. Of course they are human. But my point is that sometimes I think we see these amazing athletes doing incredible things in our sport and we can easily overlook how hard they have to work to get there. Just because they are at the elite level doesn’t mean that their fast comes easily to them. They need to recover after a big race just like we do. They are susceptible to over doing it and making mistakes with training and racing, just like the rest of us. When I read this particular conversation it made me smile for a lot of reasons. It comforted me because since my marathon 2 weeks ago I have been taking it easy wanting to be extra careful to make sure I’m recovered before beginning my next training cycle. I know in my heart that this has been the right decision, yet I have really missed running all the miles I was running before the marathon. Lauren is right — injuries are never worth it!
More than that though, reading this conversation made me feel SO PROUD to be a runner. To be a part of this incredible sport and the wonderful community of people who “get” what it is to love running. From the elites to the beginners, we are ALL runners.
I guess you could call me a #runnerd. And if you did, I would be absolutely proud of that label.
Are you on Twitter? If so, do you follow me? Let me know and I will follow you, too! If you aren’t on Twitter yet, I definitely recommend you sign up. It is worth it for all kinds of reasons.
